{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3228.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3228.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3228.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\n1. O Indra, a thousand have been thy helps accorded to us, a thousand, O driver of the bays, have been thy most delightful viands. May thousands of treasures richly to enjoy, may goods 1 come to us a thousandfold.\n2. May the Maruts come towards us with their aids, the mighty ones, or with their best aids from the great heaven, now that their furthest steeds have rushed forth on the distant shore of the sea;\n3. There clings 1 to the Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man's wife (the lightning 2), and who is like a spear carried behind 3, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is also with them V\u00e2k (the voice of thunder), like unto a courtly, eloquent woman.\n4. Far away the brilliant, untiring Maruts cling to their young maid, as if she belonged to them all 1; but the terrible ones did not drive away Rodas\u00ee (the lightning), for they wished her to grow 2 their friend.\n5. When the divine Rodas\u00ee with dishevelled locks, the manly-minded, wished to follow them, she went, like S\u00fbry\u00e2 (the Dawn), to the chariot of her servant, with terrible look, as with the pace of a cloud.\n6. As soon as the poet with the libations, O Maruts, had sung his song, at the sacrifice, pouring out Soma, the youthful men (the Maruts) placed the young maid (in their chariot) as their companion for victory, mighty in assemblies.\n7. I praise what is the praiseworthy true greatness of those Maruts, that the manly-minded, proud, and strong one (Rodas\u00ee) drives with them towards the blessed mothers.\n8. They protect 1 Mitra and Varuna from the unspeakable, and Aryaman also finds out the infamous. Even what is firm and unshakable is being shaken 2; but he who dispenses treasures 3, O Maruts, has grown (in strength).\n9. No people indeed, whether near to us, or from afar, have ever found the end of your strength, O Maruts! The Maruts, strong in daring strength, have, like the sea, boldly 1 surrounded their haters.\n10. May we to-day, may we to-morrow in battle be called the most beloved of Indra. We were so formerly, may we truly be so day by day, and may the lord of the Maruts be with us.\n11. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of M\u00e2nd\u00e2rya, the son of M\u00e2na, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain!\nAscribed to Agastya, addressed to the Maruts, but the first verse to Indra. Metre Trishtubh throughout.\nNo verse of this hymn occurs in the S\u00e2ma-veda, nor in the other Samhit\u00e2s.\nNote 1. We must keep v\u00e2ga, as a general term, distinct from asva, horses, and go, cows, for the poets themselves distinguish between gavy\u00e1ntah, asvay\u00e1ntah, and v\u00e2gay\u00e1ntah; see IV, 17, 16; VI, 8, 6.\nNote 1. On mimyaksha, see before, I, 165, 1, note 2.\nNote 2. The spear of the Maruts is meant for the lightning, and we actually find risht\u00ed-vidyutah, having the lightning for their spear, as an epithet of the Maruts, I, 168, 5; V, 52, 13.\nThe rest of this verse is difficult, and has been variously rendered by different scholars. We must remember that the lightning is represented as the wife or the beloved of the Maruts. In that character she is called Rodas\u00ee\u00b4, with the accent on the last syllable, and kept distinct from r\u00f3das\u00ee, the dual, with the accent on the antepenultimate, which means heaven and earth.\nThis Rodas\u00ee\u00b4 occurs:\nV, 56, 8. \u00e2\u00b4 y\u00e1smin tasth\u00e1u su-r\u00e1n\u00e2ni b\u00edbhrat\u00ee s\u00e1k\u00e2 mar\u00fatsu rodas\u00ee\u00b4.\nThe chariot on which, carrying pleasant gifts, stands Rodas\u00ee among the Maruts.\nVI, 50, 5. mimy\u00e1ksha y\u00e9shu rodas\u00ee\u00b4 n\u00fa dev\u00ee\u00b4.\nTo whom clings the divine Rodas\u00ee.\nVI, 66, 6. \u00e1dha sma eshu rodas\u00ee\u00b4 sv\u00e1-sokih \u00e2\u00b4 \u00e1mavatsu tasthau n\u00e1 r\u00f3kah.\nWhen they (the Maruts) had joined the two Rodas, i. e. heaven and earth, then the self-brilliant Rodas\u00ee came among the strong ones.\nThe name of R\u00f3das\u00ee, heaven and earth, is so much more frequent in the Rig-veda than that of Rodas\u00ee\u00b4, that in\nseveral passages the iti which stands after duals, has been wrongly inserted after Rodas\u00ee\u00b4 in the singular. It is so in our hymn, verse 4, where we must read rodas\u00ee\u00b4m instead of rodas\u00ee\u00b4 \u00edti, and again in X, 92, 11.\nBesides the lightning, however, the thunder also may be said to be in the company of the Maruts, to be their friend or their wife, and it is this double relationship which seems to be hinted at in our hymn.\nThe thunder is called V\u00e2k, voice, the voice of heaven, also called by the author of the Anukraman\u00ee, \u00c2mbhrin\u00ee. It was natural to identify this ambhrina with Greek \u1f44\u03b2\u03c1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, terrible, particularly as it is used of the thunder, \u1f44\u03b2\u03c1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u1f10\u03b2\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5, Hes. Th. 839, and is applied to Athene as \u1f40\u03b2\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf-\u03c0\u03ac\u03c4\u03c1\u03b7. But there are difficulties pointed out by Curtius, Grundz\u00fcge, p. 532, which have not yet been removed. This V\u00e2k says of herself (X, 125, 12) that she stretched the bow for Rudra, the father of the Maruts, that her birth-place is in the waters (clouds), and that she fills heaven and earth. See also X, 114, 8.\nIn I, 173, 3. ant\u00e1h d\u00fbt\u00e1h n\u00e1 r\u00f3das\u00ee karat v\u00e2\u00b4k.\nThe voice (thunder) moved between heaven and earth, like a messenger.\nIn VIII, 100, 10 and 11, after it has been said that the thunderbolt lies hidden in the water, the poet says: y\u00e1t v\u00e2\u00b4k v\u00e1dant\u00ee avi-ketan\u00e2\u00b4ni r\u00e2\u00b4shtr\u00ee dev\u00e2\u00b4n\u00e2m ni-sas\u00e2\u00b4da mandr\u00e2, when the voice, the queen of the gods, the delightful, uttering incomprehensible sounds, sat down. If, in our verse, we take V\u00e2k in the sense of thunder, but as a feminine, it seems to me that the poet, speaking of the lightning and thunder as the two companions of the Maruts, represents the first, Rodas\u00ee, or the lightning, as the recognised wife.. hiding herself in the house, while the other, the loud thunder. is represented as a more public companion of the Maruts, distinctly called vidatheshu pagr\u00e2 (verse 6), a good speaker at assemblies. This contrast, if it is really what the poet intended, throws a curious light on the social character of the Vedic times, as it presupposes two classes of wives, not necessarily simultaneous, however,\u2014a house-wife, who stays at home and is not much seen, and a wife who appears in\npublic and takes part in the society and conversation of the sabh\u00e2, the assembly-room, and the vidathas, the meetings. The loud voice of the thunder as well as the usual hiding of the lightning might well suggest this comparison. That good manners, such as are required in public, and ready speech, were highly esteemed in Vedic times, we learn from such words as sabh\u00e9ya and vidathy\u00e3. Sabh\u00e9ya, from sabh\u00e2, assembly, court, comes to mean courtly, polite; vidathy\u00e3, from vidatha, assembly, experienced, learned.\nVIII, 4, 9. kandr\u00e1h y\u00e2ti sabh\u00e2\u00b4m \u00fapa.\nThy friend, Indra, goes brilliant towards the assembly.\nX, 34, 6. sabh\u00e2\u00b4m eti kitav\u00e1h.\nThe gambler goes to the assembly.\nVI, 28, 6. brih\u00e1t vah v\u00e1yah ukyate sabh\u00e2\u00b4su.\nYour great strength is spoken of in the assemblies.\nWealth is described as consisting in sabh\u00e2s, houses, IV, 2, 5; and a friend is described as sabh\u00e2saha, strong in the assembly, X, 71, 10.\nSabh\u00e9ya is used as an epithet of vipra (II, 24, 13), and a son is praised as sabheya, vidathya, and sadanya, i. e. as distinguished in the assemblies.\nVidathy\u00e3, in fact, means much the same as sabheya, namely, good for, distinguished at vidathas, meetings for social, political, or religious purposes, IV, 21, 2; VII, 36, 8, &c.\nNote 3. \u00dapar\u00e2 n\u00e1 rishtih. I do not see how upar\u00e2 can here mean the cloud, if it ever has that meaning. I take \u00fbpara as opposed to p\u00fbrva, i. e. behind, as opposed to before. In that sense \u00fbpara is used, X, 77, 3; X, 15, 2; 44, 7, &c. It would therefore mean the spear on the back, or the spear drawn back before it is hurled forward.\nB. R. propose to read sam-v\u00e2k, colloquium, but they give no explanation. The reference to VS. IX, 2, is wrong.\nNote 1. The fourth verse carries on the same ideas which were hinted at in the third. We must again change rodas\u00ee\u00b4, the dual, into rodas\u00ee\u00b4m, which is sufficiently indicated by the accent. Yavy\u00e2 I take as an instrumental of yav\u00ee, or of\nyavy\u00e2. It means the youthful maid, and corresponds to yuvati in verse 6. Yavy\u00e2 would be the exact form which Curtius (Grundz\u00fcge, p. 589) postulated as the Sanskrit prototype of Hebe a. Now, if the Maruts correspond to Mars in Latin, and to Ares in Greek, the fact that in the Iliad Hebe bathes and clothes Ares b, may be of some significance. S\u00e2dh\u00e2ran\u00ee is used in the sense of uxor communis, and would show a familiarity with the idea of polyandry recognised in the epic poetry of the Mah\u00e2hh\u00e2rata.\nBut although the Maruts cling to this maid (the V\u00e2k, or thunder), they do not cast off Rodas\u00ee, their lawful wife, the lightning, but wish her to grow for their friendship, i. e. as their friend.\nAy\u00e2\u00b4sah yavy\u00e2\u00b4 must be scanned \u0306 \u0304\u0306 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304 \u0304. In VI 66, 5, ay\u00e2\u00b4sah mahn\u00e2\u00b4 must be scanned as \u0306 \u0304\u0306 \u0306 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304 \u0304 (mahimn\u00e2?).\nNote 2. Vr\u00eddham, as the accent shows, is here an infinitive governed by gushanta.\nSee von Bradke, Dyaus Asura, p. 76.\nI translate ark\u00e1 by poet. The construction would become too cumbersome if we translated, 'as soon as the hymn with the libations was there for you, as soon as the sacrificer sang his song.'\nThe meaning of the second line is obscure, unless we adopt Ludwig's ingenious view that Rodas\u00ee is here conceived as Eileithyia, the goddess who helps mothers in childbirth. I confess that it is a bold conjecture, and there is nothing in Vedic literature to support it. All I can say is that Eileithyia is in Greek, like Hebe (Yavy\u00e2) and Ares (Marut), a child of Hera, and that lightning as well as dawn might become a symbol of birth. The etymology and the\nvery form of \u0395\u1f30\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03b8\u03c5\u03b9\u03b1 is doubtful, and so is that of Rodas\u00ee\u00b4. It is tempting to connect rodas\u00ee, in the sense of heaven and earth, with O. S. radur, A. S. r\u00f3dor (Grimm, Myth. p. 662), but that is impossible. Cf. I, 101, 7.\nNote 1. I do not see how p\u00e2nti, the plural, can refer to Mitra and Varuna, nor how these gods could here be introduced as acting the part of the Maruts. I therefore refer p\u00e2nti to the Maruts, who may be said to protect Mitra and Varuna, day and night, and all that belongs to them, from evil and disgrace. Aryaman is then brought in, as being constantly connected with Mitr\u00e2-varunau, and the finding out, the perceiving from a distance, of the infamous enemies, who might injure Mitr\u00e2-varunau, is parenthetically ascribed to him. See Ludwig, Anmerkungen, p. 239.\nNote 2. Kyavante cannot and need not be taken for ky\u00e2vayanti, though akyutakut is a common epithet of the Maruts. It is quite true that the shaking of the unshakable mountains is the work of the Maruts, but that is understood, even though it is not expressed. In V, 60, 3, we read, p\u00e1rvatah kit m\u00e1hi vriddh\u00e1h bibh\u00e2ya, even the very great mountain feared, i. e. the Maruts.\nNote 3. D\u00e2ti in d\u00e2\u00b4tiv\u00e2ra has been derived by certain Sanskrit scholars from d\u00e2, to give. It means, no doubt, gift, but it is derived from d\u00e2 (do, dyati), to share, and means first, a share, and then a gift. D\u00e2\u00b4tiv\u00e2ra is applied to the Maruts, V, 58, 2; III, 51, 9, and must therefore be applied to them in our passage also, though the construction becomes thereby extremely difficult. It means possessed of a treasure of goods which they distribute. The growing, too, which is here predicated by vavridhe, leads us to think of the Maruts, as in I, 37, 5, or of their friend Indra, I, 52, 2; 81, I; VI, 30, 1. It is never, so far as I know, applied to the sacrificer.\nNote 1. Dhrishat\u00e2\u00b4 is used as an adverb; see I, 71, 5; 174, 4; II, 30, 4, &c. Perhaps tman\u00e2 may be supplied as in I, 54, 4.\n277:a Wir m\u00fcssen ein vorgriechisches y\u00e2v\u00e2 oder m\u00f6glicherweise y\u00e2vy\u00e2 annehmen.\n277:b Il. V, 905.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Vedic Hymns: I, 167. To the Maruts (the Storm-gods)","type":"page"}